reference: http://linuxblog.pansapiens.com/2007/10/31/fixing-the-arrow-keys-in-vim/


Fixing the arrow keys in Vim

Are your Vim / Vi arrow keys making A,C, B etc characters instead of moving around in insert (‘i’) mode ?

Try typing this … it fixes it for me:

:set nocompatible

Or, add the line:

set nocompatible

to your ~/.vimrc file

If no such file exist, create one yourself.